This Saturday, July 26, island resident Natalie Thompson will put on her familiar Swim Across America – Nantucket swim cap and dive off Jetties Beach into Nantucket Sound for a four-mile open-water course, all to make waves to fight cancer. Thompson has been a participant of the Swim Across America – Nantucket swim every year since the swim started in 2013. She has worked every job at the swim: setup crew, safety kayaker, “angel” swimmer, and, for the past five events, she has been a four-mile swimmer. This year’s swim is different though, and Natalie’s strokes will carry a deeper weight. This year Natalie swims in memory of her father, who passed away from stage 4 renal cancer in June 2024. She also swims in gratitude for the health of her wife Cassie, who also battled cancer with a diagnosis of ocular melanoma in 2019.